


the New Heart

by KatWrech



Series: Storks Snippets, Probably Abandoned [6]
Category: Storks (2016)
Genre: ??? - Freeform, F/M, I know the summary sounds cringey but bare with me, Pining, Promise, accidental baby, i guess, it's painful, like guys it's so close it's so close, the kid hasn't got superpowers or anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 17:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12392583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatWrech/pseuds/KatWrech
Summary: A baby is made in the Baby Factory. This isn't big news, the Baby Factory makes hundreds of babies every day. But this baby is a bit special...





	the New Heart

Junior looked up from his computer screen when the doors to the elevator _ding_ ’ed, and a panicking, average stork nearly fell into his office. “Boss!” they cried, hurrying forward and nervously bending their neck in a stiff bow.

Frowning, Junior stood up from his chair and approached the – he took a quick look at their uniform – Baby Sorter. Oh. They were a _Baby Sorter_? Oh no. “What’s wrong?” Junior asked.

“There’s a baby,” the stork said, their eyes flacking nervously. “But it – it has no homing beacon!”

Junior’s eyes widened, and the cold sensation of shock flowed through his veins. “Oh, no,” he said.

*

“ _What_!?” Tulip cried, nearly falling out of her chair. “It – a baby _without_ – and you want me to - ?”

“ _I know it’s a lot to take in_ ,” came Junior’s voice over her phone. “ _But I really need someone to take care of him for now. I’m not saying it’s permanent_ ,” he hurried to add, when Tulip began to hyperventilate. “ _I just need someone to watch over him until I find another solution. Can you do it_?”

Tulip bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, and took in the current Letter Sorting Department. “Well, shit,” she said, but she’d removed the phone from her ear. Things were running more smoothly, now, and her position as Head of Letter Sorting wasn’t as important as it’d been eight months ago.

Back then, she’d had to make sure everything was doing fine, and it was one heck of a job to get everything to go in the right direction. But now… it all went almost automatically.

Tulip raised her arm again and held the phone to her ear. “I – yeah,” she said. “Yeah, uh… sure, sure. Job isn’t taking all my time now, so – yeah, I can… I can take care of him.”

“ _Thank God_ ,” was Junior’s relieved reply. “ _Okay, can you come and pick him up_?”

“Right now?” Tulip asked, but she was already reaching for her cloak.

“ _Right now_ ,” Junior agreed, and Tulip was out of the door before he could finish the sentence.

*

Junior met up with her when she was half way there, and fell into a quick stride next to her. “You okay?” he asked.

“Oh yes, I’m super fine, considering that I’m about to _adopt a baby_ ,” Tulip replied cheerfully, sarcasm dripping from every word.

Junior winced. “Listen, I’m sorry about dropping this on you, okay? But there’s no one I trust to take care of a baby more than you.”

“…thank you?” Tulip said, narrowing an eye and raising an eyebrow at the same time. “Nevermind,” she sighed, shaking her head. “How does he look?”

Junior held the doors open for her, and that was a good thing, because she was nearly running now. There really was nothing to hurry about, the infant would still be there if she took five minutes extra, but… some part of her liked the idea of caring for a baby again. “He’s a natural one,” Junior informed her. “Brown hair, green eyes. A bit on the chubby side, but not much.”

Tulip nodded sharply, just as they entered the Baby Factory. The smell of baby-powder and soap slammed into her, making her stagger a bit and inhale sharply. “Wow,” she breathed. “I – I knew it would be like this, but not to such a degree!” Accompanying the smell came the sounds of squealing, laughing, giggling, crying and fussing. There were a few loud voices, too, but this place was, most and foremost, about _babies_.

Despite the fact that there were so many babies here and so much happening at the same time –it was a nightmare to look at so much motion at the same time – there was a calm, almost happy atmosphere in the room.

A pang of happiness hit Tulip square in the chest, and she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Okay, where is he? Take me to him!”

Junior nodded, and led her over to a side door. Tulip recognized it from the manuals as the Emergency Room. It wasn’t really made for emergencies, as babies were usually just handed over to a Delivery Team and shipped off – unless there was something wrong with them. If they wouldn’t stop crying, if they were sick, if they refused to stay still, etcetera, they were brought into this room. It could house fifty babies at a time, and resembled a hospital room with its white walls and interior. The only difference was that the nurses were birds – mostly penguins –, the floor was baby blue, and where a hospital room was cold and unwelcoming this was the exact opposite.

A tall, beautiful stork greeted when they entered the room, and Tulip smiled at her. “You’re here to see Infant 04726BS?” she asked, in a no-business tone.

“Uh, yes?” Tulip said, at the same time as Junior nodded and said, “Yeah.”

The beautiful stork nodded. “Follow me,” she said, and walked calmly to one of the last beds. “This is him,” the stork informed them.

Tulip took a step closer, and put her hand on the soft material of the white bed. Junior hadn’t been wrong; the baby boy had chest-nut brown hair, dark blue eyes and a squishy face. He looked up at her, gurgled something, and reached his grabby hands out after her.

“Aww,” Tulip cooed, and reached down to pick him up. She held him close to her chest and closed her eyes, savoring in the warmth of a body against hers. The moment lasted only as long as she dared to let it, which was only a few seconds, and then she opened her eyes again and smiled. “I’m keeping him,” she announced, grinning widely at Junior.

He stared at her before blinking twice. “You know what, _fine_ ,” he sighed, raising a wing to rub his temples. “You’re the only human, after all. It’s the logical choice!” he exclaimed, spreading his wings and laughing nervously. “Ahaha, why do I feel like I’m trying to convince myself?”

“Oh, shush you,” Tulip muttered, rocking her body gently from side to side to keep the baby from fussing. “I’ll take good care of him, you know that.”

“I do?” Junior asked in fake surprise, before sighing again and turning towards the nurse. “Okay, your job here is done. Thank you so much for taking care of him for us.”

The nurse smiled for the first time, and gave a short bow. “It was my pleasure, Boss Junior.”

Shaking her head, Tulip followed her friend out of the room. They hurried out of the Baby Factory Main Hall, and once outside the doors, Junior sighed happily. “Ah, finally out of that mess,” he said. “Hey, are you sure you want to keep him?”

“Yes,” Tulip said stubbornly. “You won’t have him.”

“I wasn’t _planning_ to!” Junior complained, as they began to walk towards her home. Well, one of them. “My job as boss takes way too much time to allow _that_.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Tulip scoffed. “Just like my job as Head of Letter Sorting, being boss got easier after the first time. You could fully well take care of this baby if you wanted to.”

Junior scowled at her briefly, before turning away and sighing. “Yeah, I guess I could. I’m just scared.” Wait, he took that seriously?

“Junior, that was a joke,” Tulip interrupted him before he could continue with his statement. “I didn’t mean it.”

“Well, _I_ do,” Junior barked. “Sorry,” he hurried to add. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m scared. I’ve never had a real father figure, not really. I wouldn’t be a good dad.”

“You must be joking,” Tulip scoffed, and laughed. When Junior gave her no response, she sobered up to gape at him. “Oh my God you aren’t,” she gasped. “Junior, did you _see yourself_ eight months ago, when we were delivering Diam- _Sandy_?” The name the Gardners had given the first baby didn’t roll well over her tongue, but Tulip spat it out anyways. Well, not spat, but you know what I mean.

“Are you _kidding_?” Junior replied sharply, turning around to stop in front of her with a serious expression. “I nearly got us all _killed_!”

Tulip raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I don’t remember that happening,” she said, and shook her head. “I do remember, however, that you took _great_ care of Sandy. Just like a father.”

Junior shook his head and continued to walk. “It doesn’t matter, anyways,” he muttered softly.

Tulip frowned, and hurried to catch up with him. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll never have kids on my own. It’s not like I’m about to get married or something,” Junior explained. “And don’t talk to me about it,” he added, when Tulip opened her mouth to complain. “It’s none of your business.”

Tulip shut her mouth with a snap and stared at Junior in surprise and hurt. “O – okay,” she said, although it was more like a squeal. “Uh – then – what do we call him?”

Junior seemed relieved that she was listening to him. “We?”

“Yeah, duh,” Tulip said, and rolled her eyes. “I’m not raising this guy alone.”

Junior stopped, closed his eyes, counted quietly to ten and resumed his walking. “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll raise him with you. But don’t expect me to be more than his distant uncle!” he warned, raising a single finger in a threatening gesture.

“Sure, Junior,” Tulip smiled. “So, name? I named the last one, it’s your turn.”

“Good, you’d probably call him Rainbow Glitters or something,” Junior said. “Okay, so a name? How about Roger?”

“Urgh, no,” Tulip said. “He’s _not_ a Roger. Maybe a Robert, but not a Roger.”

“ _Robert_?” Junior asked in disbelief. “How can you name a kid _Robert,_ but not Roger?”

Tulip shrugged. “I dunno, I tried to please your wish to have a kid with an R name!”

“I never said I wished to have a kid with an R name!” Junior denied.

“Oh, so you admit to wishing to have a kid?” Tulip asked gleefully.

Junior groaned. “I do _not_ ,” he said. “Okay, now we’re here, grab the kid, get in, you’ve got the rest of the day off.”

Tulip stopped him from opening her front door by placing a hand on top of his wing. “All joking aside, Junior,” she said softly. She looked down on the ground and bit her lip. Should she really say this? Was it worth it?

Junior was frowning at her, now, either in worry or fright. “Yeah?” he said, gently encouraging her to continue.

Yep, okay, totally worth it if it made him speak to her in such soft tones – okay, here goes nothing! “I’d actually really like to raise this kid with you and do you want to move in with me?”

Junior blinked, and pulled his head back to rest on his neck. “That was a totally unexpected question,” he said calmly. “Are you sure you didn’t forget a step?”

“A – A step?” Tulip asked in confusion.

“Yeah,” Junior said. “I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to ask me on a date before suggesting we move in together.”

Tulip squeaked and blushed furiously. “I – I don’t mean – not like that, you idiot!” she cried, managing a pretty convincing pout before continuing. “I mean like _roommates!_ Come on, Junior, you already spend most of your time over here, anyways!”

“Oh,” Junior said. He looked away and cleared his throat. “Right. Like roommates. I knew that. I was just testing you.”

Tulip glared at him. “ _Testing me_? Testing me to see how I’d react at you implying we were _dating_?” she cried.

The baby let out a shriek and begun crying.

Tulip hissed. “Aw, shit, now look at what you’ve done!” she said, glaring at Junior one last time before pushing her front door open. She stomped in, and when Junior didn’t follow after her she turned around to give him a hard expression. “Well, what are you _waiting for?_ Don’t just stand there!”

Junior startled, and hurried in after her, shutting the door softly behind him.

Tulip cursed quietly under her breath and made her way over to her couch, where she sat down heavily. The baby continued making a fuss for a moment, but she didn’t care as much as she should. Tulip sighed and closed her eyes. “Okay, I’m sorry for exploding,” she said softly. “You did nothing to deserve that.”

Junior was quiet for a few seconds before giving his reply. “I’m sorry, too. I should’ve asked you to clarify first.”

Tulip inhaled a shaky breath, and reached up with one hand to rub angrily at her eyes.

“…are you crying?” came Junior’s terrified voice from her other couch.

“Nh – no,” Tulip sniffed.

“Yeah that wasn’t very convincing.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be crying, it’s not a bid deal,” Tulip muttered, and blinked hard before looking up again. She met Junior’s eyes, noted his worried expression, and broke into sobs.

“Whoa, Tulip, what’s wrong?” Junior exclaimed, hurrying to swap couches so he could sit closer to her. “Was it because of me? Is it because you’re taking care of a baby? I could find someone else to care for him, no problem-”

“No,” Tulip interrupted him, shaking her head before resting it on his shoulder. “Sorry. Sorry, I just – urgh, this is so embarrassing…”

“What? What’s embarrassing?”

Tulip pulled her head back again. “I’m not this emotional usually,” she muttered. “But _ughhhh_ , I fucking hate periods and mood swings…”

“Oh, is that it?” Junior said, sounding very much relieved. “I thought I’d done something horrifyingly wrong.”

Tulip gasped. “No, it’s not you,” she assured him. “It’s me. It’s just me, and it’s gonna be over in a few days, I’m fine, everything’s fine!” Junior shifted next to her, and panic surged through her. “Please don’t move,” she hurried to whisper. “Please, I – I haven’t touched someone in a while.”

“I wasn’t about to move,” Junior said. “Other than closer, of course,” he added, and wrapped a wing around her shoulders.

Tulip sniffed. “Yeah, okay, that’s actually very nice.” It was even nicer when you added the fact that the baby had quieted and apparently fallen asleep somewhere along the lines.

“I’m taking you up on the offer on moving in,” Junior said. “It’s a good idea. We’d both spare money that way.”

“You gotta share me, though,” Tulip reminded him. “I’m visiting my family every second weekend.”

“Yup, I know,” Junior said. “That’s perfectly alright. We’ll probably need some time apart anyway.”

“Junior,” Tulip mock-gasped. “You’re my bestest friend in the entire world, why would we need time apart?”

“Hey, remember two minutes ago you were shouting at me for nearly nothing?” Junior deadpanned.

Tulip winced. “Ah, point,” she said. “Fine. You win this round.”

“Ah,” Junior breathed happily, again pulling his head back to rest on his neck, this time in smugness instead of shock. “Don’t I always?”

Tulip giggled, and slapped his wing lightly. “Silly bird,” she muttered. “Thanks.”

“For what?” Junior asked.

Tulip smiled lazily, content with the fact that he couldn’t see her face. “For being my friend.”

A few moments passed in heavy silence, before Junior tightened his hold around her. “You’re welcome,” he said warmly.


End file.
